Machine for opening and cleaning fibrous material



MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIAL Z. SZALOKI Aug. 25, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 15, 1955 INYENTOR. ZOLTAN SZALOKI. BY :4

-ZwSZALOKl Aug. 25, 1959 MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed March 15, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 25, 1959 z, SZALOK] 2,900,671

MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed March 15, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 ZOLTAN SZALOKI Patented Aug. 25, 1959 MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIAL Zoltan Szaloki, Whitinsville, Mass., assignor to Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 15, 1955 Serial No. 494,474

3 Claims. (Cl. 1993) This invention relates to a machine for opening and cleaning fibrous material, and particularly for processing cotton. Such material, as received from a blending or hopper-type feeder, is commonly in relatively large masses and with the fibers much tangled and interlaced. A substantial amount of dirt, leaves and other waste material is also found mixed with the fibrous material. Such material has required extensive opening and cleaning in several successive machines before it was suitable to be wound into a lap and presented to a carding machine.

It is the general object of this invention to provide an improved machine which will receive such fibrous material from any usual blending or hopper-type feeder, and which will deliver the material substantially free from dirt and in relatively small and well-opened portions or tufts, to any subsequent machine.

To the attainment of this general object, I provide two beater cylinders which act successively on a flow of fibrous material which is delivered to the beater cylinders by an upwardly-inclined pin-type feed apron.

An important feature of the invention relates to the provision of a conveniently adjustable deflector betweenthe two beater cylinders. This deflector is used to direct the fibrous material into the central part of the zone between the paths of the pins of the two beater cylinders. The position of the deflector may be selected to suit specific operating conditions.

I also provide coacting connections between the deflector and certain grid-bars which are associated with the second cylinder.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial sectional end elevation of my improved apparatus;

Fig. 2 isan enlarged side elevation of certain parts, partly in section and looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view, looking in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a deflector shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the deflector;

Figs. 6 and 7 are side and end views of the upper gridbar shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a perspectiveview of a link connector;

Figs. 9 and 10 are side and end views of the lower gridbar shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a second link connector;

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a left-hand supporting plate, looking in the direction of the arrow 12 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 13 is an edge view thereof, looking in the direction of the arrow 13 in Fig. 12; and

Figs. 14 and 15 are side and edge views of a right-hand supporting plate.

Referring to the drawings, my improved apparatus comprises a casing 10 having a dust hood 11 which is mounted above the casing and which is connected to an exhaust pipe 12. A screen or sheet of perforated metal 14 may be provided between the interior of the casing and the hood. In the operation of the machine, most of the dust and some of the small particles of dirt are exhausted through the hood 11 and pipe 1.2.

The cotton or other fibrous material is fed to my improved apparatus by the usual pin-type conveyor apron 2t), which delivers the material from a blending or hoppertype feeder to the first beater cylinder 22. The apron is mounted on rotated drums or pulleys 24, and the upper pulley 24 is fixed on a drive shaft 25.

The apparatus thus far described is of conventional design and may be as shown in the prior patent to Owen, No. 2,518,713, to which reference is made for a more complete disclosure of associated parts.

A series of grid-bars (Fig. 1) are mounted on end plates 31 and are positioned adjacent the path of movement of the pins 32 in the beater cylinder 22. A partition 33 (Fig. 1) is mounted in the casing 10 adjacent the idle or downward run of the conveyor 20, and a second partition 35 defines a storage space S in the bottom of the casing 10 in which the coarser waste material, such as dirt, sand and leaves, will accumulate.

A second beater cylinder is mounted somewhat below and to the right of the first cylinder 22, as viewed in Fig. 1, and a second series of grid-bars 42 are mounted adjacent the beater cylinder 40. The grid-bars 30 and 42 may be of any conventional adjustable type and some of the bars may be provided with pointed pins, such as the pins 46 shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The cylinder 40 prefa erably has plain studs or pins lttti, while pointed pins may be used in the cylinder 22.

The deflector 68 comprises a rod or shaft 62 extending from side-to-side of the casing iii and having bearing studs or projections 63 and 64 at its ends. A V-shaped sheet metal member 66 is welded or otherwise secured to the shaft 62 and constitutes a deflecting plate.

The bearing projection 63 at one end of the shaft 62 is received in an opening '70 (Fig. 14) in a bearing plate 71, which also has tapped holes 72 to receive clamping screws '74 (Fig. 2). The plate 71 also has holes 76 to receive pivot studs 47 of grid-bars 42a and 44 to be further described.

A second bearing plate 80 (Fig. 12) has an opening 81 for the opposite shaft projection 64 and also has a tapped hole 82 for a clamping screw 83 (Fig. 3). Holes 84 are provided to receive pivot studs 47a in the opposite ends of said grid-bars 42aand 44.

The outer end of the bearing stud 64 is slotted as indicated at 86 in Figs. 4 and 5 to receive a projecting portion 87 (Fig. 2) on the inner end of a bearing portion 88 of an adjusting lever 90 (Fig. 3).

The lever 90 has an index portion 91 coaoting with graduations on a fixed plate 92, and the lever 90 also has a segmental slot 94 to receive a clamping screw 95. A screw or bolt 96 is threaded into the end of the shaft 62 and secures the lever 90 to the end of the deflector structure. By loosening the screw and shifting the lever 90, the angular position of the deflector 60 may be adjusted as desired.

The upper grid-bar 42a (Fig. 6) has a pin 52in one end which is connected by a link 54 (Fig. 8) to a pin 59 (Fig. 3) in the deflector 60. An additional pin 48 in the gridbar 42a is connected by a link 50 (Fig. 11) to a pin 48a in the grid-bar 44 (Fig. 9).

The left-hand portion 99 (Fig. 12) of the plate 80 is slabbed off or reduced in thickness to provide clearance for the links 50 and 54 which connect the deflector 60 to the grid-bars 42a and 44. The upper face of the hearing projection 64 (Fig. 4) is similarly slabbed off for clearance.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that angular adjustment of the deflector 60 will effect simultaneous angular adjustment of the grid-bars 42a and 44.

Having described the details of construction of my improved apparatus, the operation and advantages thereof will be readily apparent. This apparatus is mounted on or adjacent to the delivery side of a blending or hoppertype feeder, and the cotton or other fibrous material is delivered by the pin-type conveyor or apron in relatively large masses and in much tangled and interlaced condition.

The apron 20 passes the usual revolving stripper (not shown) and then delivers a mat of fibers of substantially uniform thickness to the first beater cylinder 22. This cylinder operates in the usual manner to open up the masses of fiber and to sift out a large portion of the dirt and waste, which falls through the spaces between the grid-bars to the storage space S.

After passing the beater cylinder 22, the fibrous material is caused to pass over the deflector 60 and into the zone traversed by the oppositely-moving pins of the two cylinders 22 and 40.

The path of the fibrous material leaving the cylinder 22 is affected by the lineal weight of the fibrous material delivered by the apron 20.

In order to obtain the optimum opening and cleaning of the fibers, the fibers from the first cylinder should be directed into the central portion of the zone where the pins 32 and 100 meet and pass each other.

It is therefore necessary to angularly adjust the deflector 60 in accordance with the average lineal weight of the material delivered by the apron 20. By thus adjusting the deflector into a suitably selected angular position, the fibrous material can be directed into the central part of the zone between the paths of the pins 32 and 100.

After the fibrous material has passed the beater cylinder and its associated grid-bars, the opened and cleaned material is discharged downward through an opening 102 for subsequent operations.

The machine above described has been successfully used to replace a plurality of successive openers heretofore required.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. In an opening and cleaning machine, a first rotated beater cylinder, :1 second rotated beater cylinder mounted adjacent and parallel thereto, both of said cylinders being rotated in the same direction, means to feed fibrous material to said first cylinder substantially in sheet form and having the 'width of the sheet substantially coinciding with the effective length of said cylinder, means to deliver said sheet of material to said first cylinder in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of said cylinder and at a locus remote from the second cylinder, a deflector mounted between said first and second beater cylinders and in the path of travel of said sheet of fibers toward the point of closest approach of said two beater cylinders, and means to selectively determine the angular position of said deflector, and said deflector constituting means to control the path of travel of the fibers as they are moved towards the point of closest approach of said cylinders.

2. In an opening and cleaning machine, two parallel beater cylinders rotated in the same direction and having adjacent surfaces moving in opposite directions, means to feed fibrous material to the first beater cylinder, a plurality of grid bars associated with said second cylinder and including two pivotally mounted grid bars, a pivotally mounted deflector mounted closely adjacent said pivoted grid bars and effective to direct the fibers delivered by said first cylinder to the central portion of the zone between the oppositely moving surfaces of said two cylinders and as said fibers are approaching said central portion, and means to selectively and angularly adjust said deflector and said adjacent pivoted grid bars simultaneously to variably control the approach path of travel of said. fibers to said second cylinder.

3. In an opening and cleaning machine, a first rotated beater cylinder, a second rotated beater cylinder mounted adjacent and parallel thereto, both of said cylinders being rotated in the same direction, means to feed fibrous material to said first cylinder substantially in sheet form and having the width of the sheet substantially coinciding with the effective length of said cylinder, means to deliver said sheet of material to said first cylinder in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of said cylinder at a locus remote from the second cylinder, a deflector mounted between said first and second beater cylinders and in the path of travel of said sheet of fibers toward the point of closest approach of said two beater cylinders to each other, means to selectively determine the angular position of said deflector, and said deflector constituting means to control the path of travel of the fibers as they are moved towards the point of closest approach of said cylinders, a plurality of grid-bars mounted adjacent said second cylinder, and means to annularly adjust certain of said grid-bars simultaneously with any angular adjustment of said deflector.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 170,842 Freeman Dec. 7, 1875 244,393 Keene July 19, 1881 680,165 Munger -1 Aug. 6, 1901 846,421 Norris et a1. Mar. 5, 1907 2,345,988 Ockrant Apr. 4, 1944 2,518,713 Owen Aug. 15, 1950 2,836,858 Szaloki June 3, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 24,122 Australia Oct. 27, 1930 1,123,532 France June 11, 1956 

